Like much about the marijuana experiment in Colorado, the caliber of TV reporting on the subject has matured over the past year. Sure, the latest documentary includes images of smoke-filled Civic Center Park and celebrants hooting at a 4/20 fest. But it also features a high-powered lunch at The Palm with gangapreneurs making deals. Since legalization brought international media to the state a year ago, the quality of coverage of the upstart industry has improved.

No longer confined to quick hits filled with pot puns, shots of leafy plants, thick buds and mountains of cash, the latest pot documentary, “Pot Barons of Colorado” on MSNBC airing Sunday nights (with a sneak peak on Nov. 28), probes the financials in a new way.

Police in riot gear prepare to take up positions Saturday, Aug, 16, 2014, as people protest the police shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) (Charlie Riedel/AP)

“Ferguson on Edge,” MSNBC telegraphs. “Tensions Build,” CNN alerts. “Tensions are running high in Ferguson. What is going to happen on the streets there?” Fox News asked. “We’re watching.”
If you’ve watched cable news lately, you are aware of the fine line they are walking between capturing the mood in Ferguson, Mo., in advance of a grand jury decision and practically inciting a violent mood.

Pictures of boarded up windows of stores, talk of the National Guard on standby, “rumors” of certain groups secretly plotting violence in case there is no indictment… the drumbeat is curiously eager.

As you recall, violence erupted, and heavily armed police clashed with angry protesters demanding justice in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by police officebracr Darren Wilson on Aug. 9. “Some predict that will be the case again when the grand jury’s decision is announced,” CNN reported.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has declared a state of emergency as a precaution and St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said his officers are ready for whatever happens.

Those are the facts. It’s the tone that’s worrisome. Will there be blood? Might there be shooting? They’re guessing for all they’re worth. After all, these networks have hours and hours to fill and the anticipation of possible violence, to be telecast live around the world, is just too much for cable news to resist.

Because legalized recreational marijuana has created a boom not only in the weed industry but in the weed TV documentary (or pot-doc) industry, another six-parter is coming our way this month. MSNBC premieres “Pot Barons of Colorado” on Sunday, Nov. 30 at 8 p.m. (A “sneak peak” airs Nov. 28 at 10 p.m.)

This pot-umentary follows Colorado-based entrepreneurs who are cashing in on the “green rush.”

The names are by now familiar: Jamie Perino, owner of Euflora; Andy and Pete Williams, owners of Medicine Man, one of the largest single-store marijuana dispensaries in the world; and Tripp Keber of Dixie Elixirs, a marijuana soda that comes in fancy brushed-aluminum bottles.

Their plans for franchises and empire building are explored, along with the dangers of the cash-only business (picture footage of armed security guards and piles of bills). The series was produced by MSNBC’s Long Form Unit and Triple Threat TV.

Number crunching isn’t just for political junkies anymore. The media’s 2014 mid-term election coverage flooded viewers with data, onscreen and online. Some notable sights and sounds of the coverage:
Tom Brokaw’s cellphone alarm went off in the midst of doing analysis on MSNBC. He joked, still a pro on live TV.
The Denver Post’s political reporter Lynn Bartels was literally bumped offscreen during a 9News live shot with Rep. Mike Coffman, no, make that Ken Buck.
CBS4’s Jim Benneman had to walk back a mistaken call on Jared Polis. “He put his glasses on,” Shaun Boyd said as Benneman corrected himself.
Marshall Zelinger worked his own magic wall on 7News (on web and cable channel 247), Kyle Clark and Kevin Torres ran a cute faux race for 9News anchor on social media. Brandon Rittiman and Floyd Ciruli focused on seven key Colorado counties taking the micro- view (on KTVD). “We’re still learning this fancy machine,” Rittiman said, checking his writing on the flat screen.
The long shot of Adele Arakawa (on KTVD) getting up from the desk, talking while crossing the studio behind cameras, walking around desks to question analysts seemed… unnecessary. They can’t talk to each other via the camera? Boyd of CBS4 (on KBDI) and Eli Stokols (on KWGN) did what they do best, holding forth on their respective stations, each energized by the pressure.

Just wondering, what do the color blind do on mid-term Election Night? Following on tablet, phone and old-school TV, the picture everywhere separated into red and blue palettes. On CNN, the Empire State Buildig was illuminated red/blue, John King and his Magic Wall tapped out the red/blue suspense. The debate ensued: was it a splash of red? a wave of red? a tsunami?

Worst innovation: CNN’s pre-taped setup bits were annoying, similar to NBC Olympics moments, treating political coverage as showbiz. The graphics on CNN were busier and the “alerts” more excitable than MSNBC or Fox News Channel.

Most notable meltdown after the results were in: Chris Matthews, spitting fire on MSNBC. He was punchy at 1 a.m. ET, reaching for a Cory Gardner comparison with “a squirrel is a rat in cuter garb.” Or something.

The battle for the Colorado governorship, too close to call for hours, kept the suspense going. This tweet from Fox31’s Mark Meredith gave us permission to retire for the night:

Mark Meredith @markpmeredith
BREAKING: @Hick2014 will wait until tomorrow to declare victory or defeat. Election will go until Wednesday #coplitics

Rachel Maddow will host her MSNBC show from Denver Tuesday night with a lineup of local political candidates, political analysts — and a pot dispensary owner. “The Rachel Maddow Show” will broadcast at 7 p.m. from the roof of The Viewhouse Ballpark in LoDo.

“We asked everybody, we have the same problem on visits that we have on the show in New York. It’s very hard to get Republicans to come on the show because I’m a liberal. Nobody’s ever said that I’ve treated them unfairly, they’re just scared to be seen with me. I regret that they feel that way. It would be awesome to talk to Doug Lamborn, Cory Gardner, Bob Beauprez. I wish they could get beyond the knee-jerk strategic impulse.”

Talking to locals, she’s surprised people are still unaccustomed to the national political spotlight. “This isn’t the first time Colorado’s been at the center of the political fray,” Maddow said. Our bellwether status is tricky: “It’s so interesting to watch the Colorado pendulum swinging… what’s happened over the past 10 years is very Colorado-specific but also potentially determinative. Certainly there are national winds blowing, but it’s much more about the two of them (candidates in a local race) than about Obama.”

While here Maddow did the obligatory tour of a weed dispensary. “I’ve never been in a pot store before. I’m not saying I’ve never inhaled, it’s never been an important part of my life. I’m a semi-pro drinker…” (She mixes intricate cocktails on her show on Friday nights.) She had to pretend to know the difference between sativa and indica.

In her brief time here, she said, “I’ve never been so bombarded” by political ads. And she makes no predictions about the mid-term outcome and says any pollster who claims to have conclusive information is not to be trusted. “Nobody has any idea. In Colorado it’s crazy and unlike any other place in the country right now in terms of the sheer joy in the chaos.”

Police in riot gear prepare to take up positions Saturday, Aug, 16, 2014, as people protest the police shooting death of Michael Brown a week ago in Ferguson, Mo. Despite heavy rainfall and lightning, hundreds of protesters gathered Saturday night at a busy thoroughfare that has been the site of previous clashes with police. Dozens of officers, a much more visible presence than the night before, stood watch — including some with shields. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) (Charlie Riedel/AP)

The media are inevitably a factor in the ongoing and recently flaring activity in Ferguson, Mo., as the week-long protests of a police officer’s fatal shooting of an unarmed 18-year-old African-American man, Michael Brown, continues. Once again, the effect of the cameras’ presence has to be part of the story.

Police in riot gear took to the streets, tear gas canisters were fired, gunshots were heard in parts of the city and the media rightly reported on the media: an MSNBC commentator described the way video cameras energized protesters in Ferguson Sunday night as the clash between police and protesters escalated. It’s been clear since long before cellphone cameras were omnipresent: When the lights go on, the crowd is “emboldened.”

On CNN, media analyst Brian Stelter noted two, then three reporters tweeted their (brief) arrests in real time. The media’s ability to embarrass law enforcement authorities in cases of excessive force was apparent. “Heavy handed militarized tactics” were on display, and a “much more aggressive posture” by police was reported on CNN. Police threatened members of the media, live on TV, Sunday night.

Meanwhile, as CNN and MSNBC went wall-to-wall with live coverage from Ferguson, Fox News did not, sticking with regularly scheduled programming.

Earlier this weekend, the ACLU in Missouri met with authorities to clarify the First Amendment right of anyone and everyone to film the police, as long as those filming aren’t obstructive. Lots of footage, much of it from cellphones, has been recorded, including some questionable acts of police over-reaching. One notable resource: Mustafa Hussein, a student who works at a local all-volunteer music station, Argus Radio, who was interviewed on MSNBC. Like many others, he was still choking from tear gas.

MSNBC map of Colorado shown during the Arapahoe High School shooting on Friday, Dec. 13, 2013. (Courtesy of MSNBC)

The map of Colorado flashed on MSNBC Friday, Dec. 13, told the story: on the image of the state were highlighted locators for the Century 16 multiplex in Aurora, Columbine High School, Arapahoe High School and, just for context, Denver. This is how the national media sees us. This is the geography of violence.

Moments after the Arapahoe H.S. shooting, Tom Costello, formerly of KUSA, now an NBC News correspondent, told the MSNBC audience that, “there is conflicting information but what we do know is that Colorado is suffering again.”

He hasn’t lost the swagger. Or the quick, encyclopedic mind. Whether you regard Keith Olbermann as a brilliant political thinker, a great sports analyst/trivia expert or an impossibly egotistical windbag, he’s never boring.

Talking to the TV critics confab in Beverly Hills on behalf of ESPN, the network he joined in 1992 and famously/contentiously left 16 years ago, in 1997, Olbermann opened by saying the New York Times got it wrong: “there is no such clause referring to content” preventing him from talking about politics in his new ESPN gig, as the Times reported, he said. “It is a sports show.” He hopes not to mention John Boehner’s name on the show, he said.

Of course he’ll talk about politics when it intersects with sports. Asked whether he’s constitutionally able to prevent himself from talking about politics, he countered, “It’s been wonderful not talking politics.” The MSNBC job “took a lot out of me.”

Here’s the closest he came to a mea culpa: “I’m 54 years old. If I haven’t figured out how much was my doing…my experiences have been much improved since I’m back.”

After putting “SportsCenter” on the map, then helping launch ESPN2, then jumping to MSNBC as the highly political host of “Countdown,” and seeing that relationship explode, then trying his hand at Current as a news managment executive as well as host, and seeing that one blow up, too, Olbermann is ready for his next act.

But wait! Having sworn off talking politics, he didn’t leave without addressing Anthony Weiner’s (latest) scandal. He successfully defused the loaded question. “I think he stole a great hotel sign-in name. The idea that anyone could call himself, for any reason and under any circumstance, “Carlos Danger”…”

Over the weekend, friends debated the value of the wall-to-wall media coverage from Boston last week. One suggested it is unseemly to discuss Nielsen ratings regarding a national tragedy. Another felt the blanket coverage amounted to “porn,” a titillating source of violent imagery intended to excite and agitate.

I cited the mistakes CNN, particularly John King, committed mid-week as an example of speed getting ahead of accuracy. But I defended the media in terms of the restrained, authoritative coverage offered by NBC and MSNBC, ABC, CBS and NPR, as well as newspapers including the Boston Globe. Pete Williams of NBC and Scott Pelley of CBS were notable for their calm, judicious reporting. The local Boston TV stations were admirable for their steady coverage, often with superior video and a commendable lack of speculation. While social media was often far ahead, with confirmation by mainstream media lagging Twitter sometimes by hours, the two platforms played their very different roles well.

In other countries, some said, a tragic bombing event wouldn’t warrant the round-the-clock obsessive media attention devoted to Boston. (Luckily, we are not inured to such violence here.) In other places, some argued, drones do this kind of damage every day. Should we have a different standard when a major U.S. city is paralyzed by violence? Debatable, but we do. The concept of a strong free press is essential, and obsession to the point of voyeurism is what you get as a result on a day like Friday. The beauty of obsessive media coverage is the off switch: watch/listen enough to catch up, then turn it off. Nobody should sit through as many hours of traumatic coverage as I did (an occupational hazard).

Now then, because it’s still a business and because it reflects the country’s significant interest in the unfolding events, the numbers: In the 5 p.m. MDT hour, when the news of imminent capture of the suspect broke, 5.75 million viewers tuned to Fox News Channel. Close behind, and in spite of failing viewers earlier in the week, CNN was watched by 5.19 million in that hour. MSNBC was watched by 1.43 million. CNN noted it was the highest rating for a non-political, ie. not election-related, event in 10 years.

On the broadcast networks, preliminary figures show NBC News the leader with an average 10.7 million viewers for Friday’s primetime special coverage, ahead of ABC’s 7.79 million and CBS’ 6.89 million.

Was the election news just too awful for Fox News viewers to bear? Or is this a sign of a longer-term trend? Fox News primetime ratings fell to a 12-year low in January 2013, according to Nielsen data.

MSNBC was quick to underscore the point. According to a release from MSNBC, the network saw year-to-year growth while “FOX News Channel Has Worst M-Su Primetime Performance Since August 2001, Lowest Total Day Since August 2008.”

MSNBC also touts its performance versus CNN: for the month of January, “Hardball with Chris Matthews” and “The Ed Show” continued to beat Erin Burnett and Anderson Cooper on CNN.

Joanne Ostrow has been watching TV since before "reality" required quotation marks. "Hill Street Blues" was life-changing. If Dickens, Twain or Agatha Christie were alive today, they'd be writing for television. And proud of it.